Famous directors Michael Moore and Clint Eastwood’s feud is not a secret. The two have been on bad terms for over a decade now mainly due to political differences. In 2015, Moore revealed that the hatred grew to the point that Eastwood threatened to kill him back in 2005.
Over the years, the two directors have taken jabs at each other. The feud got worse after the release of Eastwood’s 2014 movie, American Sniper, as Moore heavily criticized the movie. The movie was about Chris Kyle, a SEAL sniper, who died a few years after leaving the military. Moore called snipers “cowards” and became a victim of criticism that came from many stars in the industry.
Clint Eastwood threatened to kill Michael Moore
In 2015, director Michael Moore decided to acknowledge his feud with fellow director Clint Eastwood. In a lengthy Facebook post, Moore revealed that Eastwood threatened to kill him back in 2005,
“Ten years ago this past week, Clint Eastwood stood in front of the National Board of Review awards dinner and announced to me and to the crowd that he would ‘kill’ me if I ever came to his house with my camera for an interview. ‘I’ll kill you,’ he declared.”
Moore explained that he experienced half-dozen assaults between 2004 and 2005 so hearing Eastwood’s statement instantly made him uncomfortable.
As per Michael Moore, Clint Eastwood was not joking
As soon as Eastwood declared that, the crowd nervously laughed and Moore laughed along with them, however, Eastwood made it clear that he is not joking. Moore added in the Facebook post,
“I instantly decided he was just trying to be funny, so I laughed the same nervous laugh everyone else did. Clint, though, didn’t seem to like all that laughter. ‘I mean it,’ he barked, and the audience grew more quiet. ‘I’ll shoot you.'”
Over the years, the two directors have criticized each other’s political ideologies, filmmaking styles, and the accuracy of their work.
Clint Eastwood denied threatening Michael Moore
Just a few months after Michael Moore’s Facebook post, Clint Eastwood claimed that he did not threaten Michael Moore. At the CinemaCon expo in Las Vegas in 2015, Eastwood said:
“Everyone kept saying I was going to kill Michael Moore but that’s not true.” He then added, as a joke, “It isn’t a bad idea.” He continued, “I think once years ago somebody asked me what would I do if a guy like him came to my house with a whole film crew and started filming away like he did with Charlton Heston. Unfortunately, Charlton Heston was ill at the time with Alzheimer’s. But I thought if somebody was on your property, you could shoot him.”
Moore criticized Clint Eastwood’s 2004 American Sniper, adding that snipers were “cowards” and claiming that it is a “mess of a film that rewrites history.”
Source: The Washington Post
